I mean Japanese ordination is entirely different from say a Chinese one.

The later often requires you to be a novice for a certain period of time. In the old days, as my friend explained to me, you had to spend five years attached to your Shifu (master) serving him before you could fully ordain. That isn't so common now from the sounds of it, but when he did it it was looking after all the needs of the Shifu including nursing him when he was ill and making porridge every single morning.

In Tibetan traditions I think a mandatory three year treat is what you need before you're a fully recognized bhiksu(ni) (correct me if I'm wrong here!).

Again, you need to be specific about which tradition and where and under whom.

"In the Jogye Order, a future member of the community first seeks out a teacher at a temple, has his head shaved or his hair cut very short, and serves as an aspirant apprentice for a period of at least five months. Once the aspirant is accepted, there is a ceremony of the taking of the novice precepts, or training rules. These consist of refining the ethical standards of the individual. After completing four years of basic training in living in the monastery and attending training college where the aspirant learns philosophy and other necessary subjects, candidates then take prescribed examinations and if successful, they then take the full precepts, becoming a monk, bhikkhu, or nun, bhikkhuni.Once ordained, a new monk will participate in all the daily activities of the temple, including chanting, maintenance, meditation retreats, text study, and so on. Some may be involved in administrative affairs and the teaching of the laity."Renunciation and ordination

"There is no such thing as the real mind. Ridding yourself of delusion: that's the real mind."(Sheng-yen: Getting the Buddha Mind, p 73)

About "ordaining at a Theravada monastery" but "outside of Theravada context"?

Sorry, I'm not following what you are actually asking here.

e.g. what outside the pali canon is worth studying? what aspects, skills, etc beyond that foundation work well for someone considering ordination within therevada?

As Will says. If it is the Theravada tradition into which you wish to ordain, then you should be looking into Theravada sources. This is not just the Pali canon alone, but these sources should definitely be from the Theravada tradition. You could follow the link earlier to www.dhammawheel.com or www.accesstoinsight.org and so forth. If that is the tradition you want to ordain into, then for now, I'd recommend that you don't need to spend any time looking into the Mahayana (including www.dharmawheel.org in general).

thanks everyone. i've done studies in therevada. i'm interested in taking in non-theravada sutras, in case they are one day useful, etc. and no longer available... or to have a greater understanding of buddhism as a whole...